The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 108

E1tone that, bounding down the mountain- epeake. Had Daniel introduced tho phrneP, side, had emit.ten tho image on the feet, so "thus saith the Lord," this opinion might that it foll and oocame ILB dust, now grows have been defended. It way be that apace, overtopping the utmost height the Daniel-fell b1tck on the methods and ordinary image bad attRined, overtopping the moun- mode of address for an astrologer before tho tain from whioh it had been cut. Not only King of Babylon (sell' vcr. 7). Ho docs not did it grow in height, but, as it increased in ·wait for the king to acknowledge thnt this bright, its base broadened till the whole ie the dream ho had. Do.nicl o.t once pro- earth was filled with it. There seems to be oeods with the interpretation. n reference here to lea. ii. 2, "The monn- Ver. 37.-Thou, 0 king, art a kinf of ta.in of the Lord 'e house shall be established kings: for the God of hS11.ven hath given on the top of the mounts.ins, and shall be thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and cxR Jt.ed o.bovo the hills; and all nations glory. The Septul\gllit renders the latter shall flow unto it." As the monarch gazClS elause, "To thee the Lord of heaven gavo in hie dream, the change is oompleted, the the dominion, and the kingdom, and tha huge image, with its glittering head and might, and the honour, and the.glory in all ,:deeming brea.et, its polished thighs and the en.rth ('11 1rd."!I "P oitcouµfrp)." There legs of iron, its unseemly feet that in- appears here to be two cases of doublet; lz.px¾/ spired trrror by its very o.ppea.rance, had and /3arri>,.,/,. o.re probably originally altemo.- utterly disappea.red, and its plaoe was tive renderings of malcutha, and "'"¾ and occupied by a monnte.in, huge but peaceful, &iiia. double renderings of yiqara. On this on which the flocks might browse a.nd trees hypothesis there ie only one Greek word for might grow. lt may be noted, though not two Aramaio. We shall consider this later. as of imp0rte.nce, that the material of the Po.ulus Tellensis, in his translation of the mountain is most akin with that of the Septuagint Version, draws the beginning of weak clay of which the feet of the image the next verse into connection with the final were largely composed. Snob. then, is the words of this verse as given here. The words, dream which Nebuchadnezzar had seen, "in the whole earth," is a transference from o.nd which the prophet now presented once the next verse. The rendering of '£heodo- more before him. We must, however, tion is, " Thou, 0 king, art a king of kings, glance at the picture presented by the read- t.o whom the God of heaven gave a strong ing of the LXX. 'l'o the translator the and mighty and honourable kingdom," picture endently present was that of a making thus l,isna, toqpa, and yiqara ad- stone descending from the mountain, and jectives of malcutha, butmalcutha is feminine, increasing in momentum e.s it descends ; and, if adjectives, 1',isna, etc., are masculine. but this stone further increases in size, till The Peshitta differs from the Me.esoretic in before its tremendous strokes a.nd rebounds leaving out one of the terms, "Thou, 0 the very solid earth quakes. king, art a king of kings; God most high ,er. 86.-This is the dream; and we will (m<rima) a strong kingdom and glory has tell the interpretation thereof before the given to thee." Of course, the same ob- king. The various versions agree closely jection holds to some extent ago.inst this -with the :Massoretic text. It is scarcely a version e.s against that of Theodotion, but variation when the Septuagint has ,1rl, "to," it is to be noted that there are not two insteo.d of iv&nr,011, "before," that is to say, words conveying the same idea. of strength. As there was only one in the Septuagint, we ~ instead of □7R (q'dam). Jerome must have are inclined to think that toqpa must have ~ead 1~:;rR (qadamak), "before thee,'' as he been an addition. Jerome'e reudering is, renders coram te, rex; but that also is unim- "Thou art a king of kings, and the God of portant. Having finished telling N ebuche.d- heaven has given to thee the kingdom, and nezzar his dream, Daniel now announces might, and dominion, o.nd glory." There J,is intention of giving the interpretation. seems to be a tre.neposition here. The Commentators have noticed the fact that general scope of this verse and the next is Daniel does not ae.y, "I will give,'' but given in Jer. xxvii. 5, 6. There is certainly "we." The opinion of Professor Fuller is that high honour given to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel here includes with himself his three this addxess, but, at the SO,me time, he is companions; of Keil, Kranichfeld, Zockler, warned that all his glory is bestowed upon and Behrmo.nn, that he identifies himself him by the God of heaven. It is possible witu all worshippers of Jehovah; Aben that Nebuchadnezzar interpreted the words Ezra makes the plurality by making him a.s referring to Merodach, the god whom he refer to himself and the Divine wisdom; specially worshipped, or regarded the God Jephet-ibn-Ali mn.kee its force lie in con- of heaven ae only another of the gods many trast; Hitzig makes it really the pluralis and lords many which, as a polytheist, he n:cdl,,.ntw, and quotes in defi-,nce Gen. i. acknowledged. '!'he title of the Babylonio.q 26 aucl xi. 7, wLere it is God himself that king Wll.'l shar-sharani," king of kiuge," and rll. II, 1-10.] 'l'HE BOOK m' DANIEL. 69